Ninken Alliance
by Rika24
Summary: A series of 8 oneshots on how Kakashi got his eight ninja dogs. Rating for later chapters
1. Pakkun

Disclaimer: Naruto does not belong to me

_I decided to get this out now because what happens in the second oneshot will be a side story of "Following the Life of the Copy Ninja." Ninken Alliance is a series of eight oneshots on how Kakashi met each of his ninken. Actually you could think of this one as a side story for "Copy Ninja" too._

_Disclaimer: Naruto does not belong to me._

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**Ninken Alliance**

By: Rika24

Oneshot 01: Pakkun

The early morning sunlight shown through the window next to the small boy's bed, his face scrunched up as the light landed on his face. Kakashi turned over away from the light to try and go back to sleep but couldn't. _Stupid sunlight_, Kakashi thought as he sat up and stretched.

He threw the covers off and walked towards the kitchen of his sensei's house. Ever since his father's suicide, Minato had been taking care of him. Some days Kakashi loved to live with his sensei, but on others he wished he were alone. Today was one of those days.

Today was September 15th, Kakashi's seventh birthday. He didn't feel like celebrating though since this would be his first birthday as an orphan.

Kakashi wandered into the kitchen to get something to drink. As he drank his water he sat in the chair at the table, his mind already flashing to his previous birthday.

**FLASHBACK**

Kakashi woke up at the crack of dawn and jumped out of his bed. He walked carefully towards the room down the hall, using all his ninja training to keep himself from being heard.

He reached for the doorknob and turned it slowly. Taking a breath, Kakashi pushed open the door as quietly as possible. He watched the still form sleeping on the bed for a minute before charging forward.

He leapt up onto the bed, landing on the sleeping man. Sakumo shot up and grabbed the boy a little too roughly, startling Kakashi. When Sakumo realized who he was holding he released him with a heavy sigh.

"Kakashi, please don't do that anymore," Sakumo said exhaustedly. Kakashi could see the bags under his father's eyes. Sakumo hadn't had a peaceful nights sleep since that horrible mission.

"Sorry," Kakashi whispered as he got down from the bed and left the room.

**END FLASHBACK**

Kakashi sighed, that was his sixth birthday. He couldn't blame his father for forgetting, the poor man was too consumed by guilt to remember anything but the horrors of that mission and the heavy price of his decision.

Kakashi turned to look at the hall that lead to his sensei's room. Minato hadn't known when Kakashi's birthday was and Gai wasn't able to get away from his parents, who didn't want him going near his friend. That was Kakashi's worst birthday. The first birthday he celebrated in silent loneliness.

_Maybe I should wake him up_, Kakashi thought to himself. But then he thought it would be better not to because he didn't want to see the man's cheery face or hear his laughter, it would only make the depressing day even worse.

So instead, Kakashi went outside to start his training exercises for the day.

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Minato woke up at the sound of a loud chirp of a bird. He turned to see the bird sitting on his windowsill looking in at him. The blonde Jounin glared at the bird, which seemed to take the hint and fly away. Minato looked at the clock on the wall and sighed, 12:00, noon.

_Why didn't Kakashi wake me up?_ He thought, but then he realized what today was. _He must want to be alone today, the poor kid_.

After Minato got dressed in his Jounin uniform he headed towards Ichiraku's for some ramen.

"Hello Minato-san," the owner of the ramen shop greeted as the blonde sat down on his favorite stool.

Minato smiled, "hi Teuchi-san, my usual please," Minato replied. Not long after, the man brought out a large bowl of Miso ramen.

"So how's Kakashi doing?" Teuchi asked. Minato froze, the noodles inches from his mouth. With a sigh Minato put them back in the bowl. The two stayed silent for a minute before Minato finally spoke.

"Not good I'm guessing, who could blame him after everything he's been through." The ramen shop owner nodded in understanding. "I wish there was something I could do that would cheer him up, at least a little."

"Well, gifts usually do the trick for normal kids," Teuchi stated, but as an after thought he added, "then again, Kakashi isn't a normal kid."

"Yeah, I had originally planned to give him a special kunai, but I dunno," Minato ran his hand through his blonde hair in frustration.

"I'm sure you'll think of something Minato-san, you always do," Teuchi said with a reassuring smile. Minato smiled back and returned to eating his ramen.

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Kakashi had finished his usual training an hour ago and was walking around the village when he suddenly felt the urge to go back to his old home.

The house felt cold and uninviting, Kakashi shook his head, of course it would feel that way after what happened there. He wandered into Sakumo's room, something drawing him to the closet.

Kakashi opened the door and found an old warn out scroll, curious, he opened it and started to read.

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The sun was going down when Kakashi decided to return home. He walked in to find the house empty. With the scroll in hand, he walked to his room.

Not long after Kakashi arrived, Minato walked through the door holding something very fragile in his arms. The blonde heard mumbling coming from Kakashi's room and smiled.

"Kakashi, what are you doing?" Minato asked as he poked his head into the room. Kakashi was lying on his bed with a scroll laid out in front of him.

"I found this in my—er, at my old house," Kakashi explained, quickly stopping himself from saying his father's room.

"What is it for?" Minato asked out of curiosity.

"It's a scroll that belonged to my clan. It explains how to make a special summoning scroll that no one else can use." Kakashi answered. Minato smiled at his student, glad he found something that had made him forget about being upset about his father.

"Kakashi, could you come into the living room please? I have something for you." Kakashi was going to say he didn't want any birthday presents but Minato had already disappeared. Kakashi decided to listen to his sensei and put the scroll away and headed for the living room.

When he got there, Minato was standing with his back to him. "Minato-sensei?" Kakashi questioned. Minato looked over his shoulder at the silver-haired Chuunin and smiled.

"Happy birthday Kakashi," with that said, Minato turned fully around to reveal what he was hiding. Kakashi's eyes widened. In his sensei's hands was a very tiny brown puppy.

Minato walked over to Kakashi and said, "that scroll of yours, it explains how to make a ninken summon scroll doesn't it?" At the look of surprise on his student's face, Minato explained. "Jiraiya told me that your clan took great pride in canine companions as their summons. Usually these summons were regular animals, not the normal summons other shinobi have." Kakashi nodded, "Maybe this little pug can one day become a ninken summon, don't you think?"

Kakashi reached out his hands hesitantly; Minato responded by handing over the puppy to the now seven year old.

Kakashi held the small, very young puppy and a small smile appeared on his unmasked face. Minato smiled too, happy that his gift had made the boy happy.

The small pup wiggled a little and Kakashi held him tighter to his chest. The pup opened his eyes and looked up at his new master. "Hiya Pakkun," Kakashi said as he locked eyes with the pug. Kakashi's smile widened as the pup's tiny tail wagged in response to hearing his name.

"Happy seventh birthday Kakashi."

"Thank you sensei."

Minato's smile grew in response; he hadn't seen Kakashi this happy in long time.

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_So that's how I think Kakashi got Pakkun. It would explain why Kakashi seems much closer to Pakkun than his other ninken. I've come up with names for all of Kakashi's ninken except one, the dog with the kanji tattoo on his forehead. Any ideas for a name for him will be gladly accepted._

Next: Akai


	2. Akai

_Thanks for the reviews _

_Disclaimer: Naruto does not belong to me._

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Ninken Alliance

By: Rika24

Oneshot 02: Akai

Today was the day that Kakashi would finally meet his teammates for the first time. He had expected a lot from them, both good and bad. But above all else, he expected two strict, confident, Chuunin. What he got was one female Genin who wouldn't stop giving him glances out of the corner of her eye, and the other Genin was no where to be found. Kakashi sighed and looked at his sensei.

The girl had short, light brown hair and reddish-brown tattoos on her cheeks. She wore a light purple robe with a black shirt underneath.

Sitting in front of the two young shinobi was Minato Namikaze, now twenty-two years old. He wasn't wearing his Jounin vest, only the navy blue shirt that was usually worn underneath it.

"Looks like the last member of our team is running a little late," Minato commented as he looked up at the sky in boredom.

"Tch, do we really need someone that can't follow a simple rule?" Kakashi said as he was leaning up against a tree with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Relax Kakashi, I'm sure he'll be here soon." Minato said calmly.

"I'm coming! I'm coming!" shouted a voice, Minato smiled.

"See, I told you he'd be here soon." Minato turned to the out of breath boy, "have a seat." The boy smiled in relief that he didn't get yelled at for being late and sat down next to the girl.

"Now that we're all here, it's time for the introductions. Please tell me your name, likes, dislikes, and dreams for the future." Minato said.

"I'll go first. I'm Minato Namikaze, I like to annoy my old sensei, Jiraiya, and bug his old female teammate, Tsunade. I used to pull pranks on them both all the time." Minato chuckled, remembering the time he saw Jiraiya spying on Tsunade at the hot springs. He had used his body flicker jutsu and appeared behind Jiraiya, catching him off guard. When Jiraiya had jumped, Tsunade saw him, but not Minato. That's when she beat Jiraiya nearly to death. Minato winced at the memory of what Jiraiya had done to him after being released from the hospital. "I also like Ramen."

"My dislikes are," Minato put his hand to his chin, thinking before continuing, "Well I guess I can't think of any right now."

"As for dreams for the future, I want to be Hokage." He said with a smile.

"Now, which one of you would like to go next?" Minato asked.

The girl shyly raised her hand. Minato nodded at her to go. "My name is Rin Masami," she turned red as she continued, "I like helping people, and strawberries. And…" Rin started as she cast another look at Kakashi to find him looking at her, her red face became a brighter shad of red. "As for my dislikes, I hate it when I can't help others," Rin paused as her eyes started to turn glassy, she shook her head to stop herself from crying before she continued, "I also dislike tsukudani. As for my dream, I want to become the best medic ninja, the kind that never looses a single patient."

Before Minato could say anything, the raven-haired boy introduced himself, "I'm Obito Uchiha!" Kakashi's eyes narrowed, _an Uchiha? But he isn't wearing the clan symbol… Doesn't matter though, all that does is that he's an Uchiha. Which means he's the last person I should ever trust_.

Oblivious to the hate his new teammate felt for him, Obito continued, "I really like playing with my little cousin Itachi; he's a year old now."

"As for my dislikes," Obito looked at the ground sadly, "I hate being looked down on, especially by my dad and Uncle Fugaku." Obito looked up, a look of determination on his face, "And my dream is to be acknowledged by my clan as an Uchiha worthy of the name and the clan symbol!"

Minato smiled at his two new students, very happy to finally have a complete team. "And last but not least," Minato said as he turned to Kakashi and nodded.

"My name is Kakashi Hatake, my likes and dislikes are none of your business," Obito narrowed his eyes as Kakashi continued, "I don't believe in dreams, but I have two goals, both of which are also none of your business."

"What's your problem?!" Obito shouted as he threw a punch at Kakashi, who easily caught it. Kakashi swept Obito's legs out from beneath him with his leg to knock him to the ground. Kakashi pinned Obito to the ground.

"My problem is this, a loser who can't even follow the simple rule of being on time. How did you ever make it through the Academy?"

"Please stop, you're going to hurt him Kashi-kun." Rin pleaded.

"And that's another thing, if you're a ninja, act like one. You'll die on your first real mission if you have a problem with seeing others get hurt."

"Don't be mean to Rin!" Obito growled, "or else I'll—" Kakashi just pushed him down harder into the grass.

"I don't think you're in the position to threaten, Uchiha." Kakashi said harshly. He looked back at Rin, "In order to make it as a ninja, you have to be able to take pain, both physically and mentally." Rin started tearing up as Kakashi continued, "A ninja that can't hurt, let alone kill has no business being a shinobi. So Rin, toughen up or get lost."

Tears started streaming down her face as she whispered, "I'm sorry, I'll try to be a better shinobi," she quickly turned and ran away.

"Rin! Rin wait!" Obito shouted from his place on the ground underneath Kakashi. "Get off me Hatake! Kyo was right about you, you are a good for nothing piece of garbage." Kakashi's eyes widened, his anger rose as he went for his kunai, in a flash of yellow the two were parted.

Minato held both boys by the collars of their shirts. "This is not how a team behaves," Minato said.

"But Minato-sensei," Kakashi started, but his complaint died in his throat when he felt Minato's aura, Minato was ticked off.

"On the first day of meeting each other, you make your female teammate cry and run away, and then try to kill your other teammate?!" Minato yelled at the silver haired shinobi, who shivered at the harshness, he had never seen Minato this mad before.

"And you Obito, I don't want to hear anymore of what the Uchiha clan thinks of your teammates." Obito was shaking; tears were falling as he shook. Kakashi would have scoffed at the sight, but he wouldn't dare make Minato angrier than he already was.

Minato set both boys down; as soon as Obito's feet hit the ground he fell on his butt, still shaking. "Go home Obito," Minato said in a soft tone, he didn't mean to go that far. Obito nodded, "Yes sensei," he whispered before running off.

Minato turned to Kakashi and sighed. "What was that just now?"

"I'm sorry Minato-sensei, but how can you expect me to work well with those two Genin. I should have two Chuunin teammates since I'm already one."

"I wanted you to have two teammates your own age. If they were regular Chuunin instead they'd be much older than you and would bully you. I understand that this'll take some getting used to so please try to go easy on them. How would you have felt if when you just graduated, your teammates treated you like that as soon as you met them?"

Kakashi lowered his head, he hadn't really thought about that. "It's just," Kakashi started as he looked in the direction Obito had run off in, "it's just, how do you expect them to survive as shinobi? I was so shaken up after my first kill during the Chuunin exams."

"Don't worry, just give them time." Minato said.

"I'm really sorry sensei," Kakashi said softly as he headed home.

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Kakashi was close to his house when he heard snarling, growling, and yelping, _a dog_ _fight_. Kakashi immediately ran in the direction of the noises. When he got there he saw three large dogs mauling a smaller one. The poor thing was covered in blood, yelping and trying to get away.

Kakashi immediately tried to save the dog, running towards the fight with two kunai out. He turned his attention to the largest one that had just grabbed a hold of the injured dog's neck. Knowing he had to act fast, he threw one kunai at the large dog's hind leg, causing it to yelp in pain and release the other dog's neck.

The massive black dog turned towards him and bared its fangs. Kakashi knew not to show fear, no matter how much he wanted to. He took out a small explosive tag and set it off near the dogs using the other kunai, scaring them away.

Kakashi kneeled next to the beaten up dog. The dog whined in pain as Kakashi tried to check out its wounds. Sighing, he created a shadow clone and the two carried the dog home where he'd take care of its wounds.

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It was early in the morning when Kakashi was awakened by a cold nose on his cheek. Blinking the sleepiness away, Kakashi focused on the one that woke him. Pakkun was sitting on his pillow with a worried expression on his face.

"What is it Pakkun?" The boy asked, but before the pug could reply he got his answer in the form of a high-pitched cry. Kakashi shot up off the floor and ran to his bed where the dog he saved last night lay. (Kakashi had decided that the dog would need his bed more than he did, so he had decided to sleep on the floor).

The wounds weren't bleeding anymore, but they still looked bad, even through the bandages he could see they were getting infected. "Stay with him Pakkun, I'll get someone that can help," with that Kakashi raced out of his house, remembering at the last minute to tug the mask part of his shirt over his mouth and nose.

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Kakashi raced into the Inuzuka clan area of the village. _If anyone can help Akai, it's one of the Inuzuka vets_, Kakashi thought.

He was immediately greeted by a large brown dog that started to lick his face and wag its tail. Kakashi smiled under his mask as he started to rub behind the large dog's ears, if there was only one being on the planet he could always trust, it was a dog.

Suddenly the dog was pulled away by a tall man with red, fang-like tattoos on his cheeks. Kakashi tried to ignore the look of hatred on the man's face. "Inuzuka-sama," Kakashi started with a deep bow, "I found a severely injured dog last night and his wounds are getting worse. Can you send one of your vets to help please?" The boy begged the clan head. Normally Kakashi would NEVER resort to begging, but he had to do whatever was necessary, Akai's life depended on it.

"Why would I help a failure like you?" The man said angrily. Kakashi looked up at the man with wide eyes.

"But my dog—" Kakashi pleaded, but the man interrupted him.

"What about my clan's dogs? Or my fellow clan members for that matter, that were killed because of your father's choice?!" The Inuzuka's voice, combined with mentioning his father made Kakashi shudder in anger. _How can the leader of a clan that loves dogs so much be willing to let one die just because of something my father did_. Kakashi thought.

"But—" Kakashi started to voice his question when the Inuzuka spat at him. Kakashi wiped the saliva off his face before glaring at the man.

"Get out of here brat!" the man shouted. Kakashi slowly backed away from the angry Inuzuka. "You heard me! Get out of here now and never set foot in this area again, you piece of garbage!" he shouted, kicking dirt at the saddened Chuunin who then started to run away.

The dog on the other hand whined as he tried to run after the boy, only to be restrained by his master. "Don't waist your time on that trash," with that the Inuzuka and his dog went back inside.

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it was 5 o'clock in the morning when a loud, rapid pounding woke Minato. Realizing it could be an emergency he raced to the door. When he opened it, he found a surprisingly worried nine-year-old. "What's the matter Kakashi?" Minato asked.

"Can you come to my house?" Kakashi looked down at the ground as he continued, "I need help."

"Sure, let's go," Minato said, and the two rushed to Kakashi's house.

When they got inside, Kakashi led Minato to his room where a red and white greyhound laid on his bed, still crying in pain.

The small pug sitting on the pillow above the larger dog's head looked up when the door opened. "I got someone that can help, Pakkun," Kakashi told the pug.

Minato followed Kakashi to the two dogs. "This is Akai, I saved him from some dogs that attacked him. I cleaned and bandaged his wounds last night, but they're worse now. I think they might be infected." Kakashi told his sensei as he pet the greyhound's head to try and calm him down.

Minato carefully examined the wounds through the bloody bandages, "maybe one of the Inuzuka's can help," Minato suggested, but Kakashi shook his head.

"They won't help, they don't like me," Kakashi continued in a whisper, "like everyone else."

"Well, luckily I know someone that does like you that can help," when Kakashi looked up and Minato continued, "I'll be right back."

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"I'm sorry to have gotten you up this early," Minato said as he opened the door to Kakashi's house.

"That's ok, I just hope I can help," the girl answered. When they entered Kakashi's room, Kakashi's eyes widened, "Rin?"

"Hi Kakashi-kun," she greeted in a soft tone, still wary after yesterday. "Minato-sensei told me you saved that dog there, but his wounds were infected. I can help him."

"How, you're only nine?" Kakashi asked.

"I'm from a family of medic ninja, so my mom has been teaching me since I was six. I still need work on healing humans, but I'm really good at healing animals." Rin looked at the injured dog, and then Kakashi, "so, can I help?"

Kakashi nodded and stepped aside, quickly picking up the pug as he did. Rin softly pet the dog's head while she looked over the wounds. "What's his name?" she asked.

"Akai," Kakashi answered.

"Ok, Kakashi, can you keep petting him while I remove the bandages?" Rin asked. Kakashi soundlessly did as she asked, taking over comforting the dog as she moved to start removing the bandages.

"This'll hurt a little Akai," Rin said to the dog, she always liked to talk to those she was helping, human or animal. The dog seemed to understand because he whined a little before tightly shutting his eyes. Rin removed the bandages as carefully as she could, but the dried blood stuck to them and as she removed them some of the wounds reopened.

Kakashi continued to pet Akai's head as Rin, now finished removing the bandages, looked at the wounds. She raised her hands, now glowing with a soft green light, and placed them on the wounds. "I'm using my chakra to clean out the wounds before closing them," Rin explained.

Fifteen minutes later, Rin collapsed on the bed next to Akai, who licked her face. Rin giggled as she pet the dog on the head. "You're welcome Akai," she said happily.

"Rin," Kakashi's voice startled the exhausted girl, who sat up immediately to look at him. When a few seconds went by and Kakashi didn't continue, Rin decided to try and get him to talk more.

"What's the pug's name?" she asked as she looked at the pug in his arms.

"Pakkun, I got him from Minato-sensei as a present for my seventh birthday," Kakashi answered while only looking at the pug.

"He's so cute," Rin said as she got up to look at the pug, "Hiya Pakkun," she said as she pet the little dog, who wagged his tail happily when she called him cute.

Rin looked at the clock before grabbing her bag, "I have to get home now because I didn't wake my mom up before I left. So she doesn't know I'm gone." Rin headed for the door, and Kakashi followed her with Pakkun still in his arms.

"See you later today during training Kakashi-kun," Rin said as she started to leave.

"Thanks for healing Akai," Kakashi suddenly said, causing Rin to stop and look at him.

"Your welcome," Rin said with a smile, not expecting him to thank her.

"And, I'm sorry about what I said yesterday," Kakashi continued. Rin's eyes widened, definitely not expecting Kakashi to apologize.

"That's ok Kashi-kun, and you're right, I do need to toughen up if I'm going to be a good ninja." Rin looked him right in the eyes, determination showing in her own, "and I will get better, I promise." With that Rin left.

Minato couldn't help but smile, _so the way to get to Kakashi's softer side is through his dogs huh? _Minato thought as he scratched behind Akai's ear, _I'll have to remember that_.

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_Akai means red in Japanese, so it fits. Akai is the red and white dog with the bandages on his head (he looks like a greyhound to me). In the show itself he's tan, but as you'll see in later oneshots, I'm following Kishimoto's original designs. Those familiar with the anime version of ANBU Kakashi with his ninken, or the one where Kakashi is sitting reading Icha Icha with Pakkun in his lap and the rest of the ninken around him will know where I'm getting the descriptions from._

_If you were at all confused about some things brought up in this oneshot, please read "Following the Life of the Copy Ninja." And for those that are reading this while you wait for me to update Copy Ninja, this was the original idea for chapter 8._

_I still need a name for the dog with the kanji tattoo on his forehead. Please give suggestions._

Next: Bull


	3. Author Note

Ok, first off I AM NOT DEAD! Nor have I abandoned my Naruto fanfics (I actually fell out of the fandom for a while there, but I'm back into it again).

My main reason for this author note? I'm having issues coming up with longer stories for some ninken. I REALLY want to get to writing the later ones as those stories are planned out and I'm excited to write them (especially the 8th ninken) problem is, I want to go in order, so I can't write those until I figure out what to do for the others. I have general outlines for each of them; the problem is just fleshing them out. So, anyone with YIM or AIM that I can bounce ideas off of?

And my other reason for this note, now that Kakashi's ninken have official names, would it bother anyone if I kept my fan names for some of them? I just named a few that went along with how Kakashi got them, like Ryota (Urushi) and Yuudai (Guruko).

**Poll Updated, please vote!**


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